Zoom A lost overall position for Solberg opens the door to tactical considerations at Ford...

Mostly a very fast stage, the Pietra Rossa-Verghia route forces drivers to slow down somewhat near its middle as the crumbling asphalt makes for a quite bumpy and tricky ride.

On this second run of the day, Sebastien Loeb was the quickest driver across the route with a time of 16:25.6, but the Citroen team driver's stage win was hotly contested by Ford's Mikko Hirvonen, who took second place 0:00.6 close.

Stobart Ford's Jari-Matti Latvala was also hovering nearby 0:00.8 behind in third position, again displaying good pace and confidence. "I don't know what happened," the Finn happily wondered. "Something hit me yesterday and I'm finding it so much easier."

Andreas Mikkelsen's Ford and Urmo Aava's Citroen reached the fourth and fifth spots at the conclusion of this run, each driver thereby recording his best stage result so far this week-end.

A trio of Ford cars came next, led by works driver François Duval and completed by Stobart Ford teammates Henning Solberg and Matthew Wilson. The Subaru Imprezas of Chris Atkinson and Mads Ostberg rounded off the top ten as today's first loop came to an end.

It was a tough run for the Subaru team: in addition to Atkinson's ninth-place finish, Petter Solberg only reached 17th on the list due to a slow puncture. As for Brice Tirabassi aboard the third team car, the Frenchman stopped on stage due to mechanical problems.

The leaderboard now displays a 1:24.0 advantage for Sebastien Loeb on François Duval, very nearly two minutes on Jari-Matti Latvala. Mikko Hirvonen moves up to fourth overall almost three minutes down, with now fifth-placed Petter Solberg 14.9 seconds behind.

With such a comfortable margin, Loeb can afford to cruise home to victory today: "All I can do is carry on and not get a puncture," he said. "It's very easy to get one here, so nothing special. No big risks."

Observers are now wondering, due to the current situation following Hirvonen's setback on the previous stage and keeping championship considerations in mind, if M-Sport Ford team principal Malcolm Wilson will ask Duval and Latvala to let Hirvonen through during this afternoon's final loop. Now that three Ford cars follow Loeb, tactical moves might come into play...

The Rallye de France-Tour de Corse competitors now head for the service park in prepration for the event's final two stages.

Daniel BASTIEN
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